Review of Chasing Wrongs and Rights by Elaine Pearson (original) (raw)

Elaine Pearson was born in Sydney and grew up in Perth. Coming to the end of her law degree, Pearson eschewed life in a top tier law firm and, instead, landed a job as a project officer with a small anti-human trafficking NGO in Thailand. Pearson never looked back. She is now a respected international human rights campaigner heading up Human Rights Watch in Australia. Chasing Rights and Wrongs is a personal memoir but, also, a study in international human rights campaigning as it follows Pearson's experiences across the globe and looks at issues in Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Africa and parts of Europe. Of particular interest is the saving of Hakeem al-Araibi, arrested in Thailand and threatened with extradition to Qatar for a crime allegedly committed in another country while playing in a soccer game telecast on live TV. Pearson charts how the courage and energy of Australian soccer personality, Craig Foster, overcame the incompetence of the AFP who facilitated Hakeem's arrest on an interpol red notice.